their former occupations and observed that the prevalence of nearsightedness rose as the men became more educated: from 2.5 percent among farmers and fishermen to 12 percent among craftsmen doing close handiwork and 32 percent among scholars. A research project in Alaska found that young, literate Eskimos were more often myopic than their illiterate elders. It is also known that lawyers and graduate students have myopia rates approaching 50 percent.
Only within the last few years, the authors observe,...